This creates a greater fracture with Netanyahu and tosses the negotiations in Cairo into a cocked hat. There is no way Israel was going to stand by and accept the idea that they had to leave Rafah alone — as Kirby puts it, “any” major operation would be opposed by this administration. And of course, they’re doing this while continuing to deny the military aid Congress overwhelmingly endorsed. Whether you support their position or not, the inability of this administration to understand how leverage works is astounding.

Gates’s vindication may please Republicans on a partisan level. But there are real consequences for this level of hubris — and Biden’s continual insistence that his way is the right way, all else be damned. His irritation at the Gates comment and the rumors that Barack Obama is actually running his foreign policy show now seem a reflection of his earliest famed lie-filled outburst at suggestions he wasn’t sharp enough for the job of the presidency. Joe knows the critics are wrong. He can handle things. He’s smart, not like everybody says… he’s smart and wants respect.